I came upon this movie from some stupid "top ten" list. At this point it boggles my mind how this poorly-conceived and -orchestrated red herring would be on a "top ten" list for anything. It's an uninspired "found footage" film from a time when "found footage" was about five years' out of vogue, but it can't even stay true to that style choice as the viewer is constantly presented with novel camera angles which defy explanation or stretch the bounds of belief. For instance, the camcorder strapped to a helmet as a 1997 stand-in for a go-pro, or the helicopter cam on a helicopter which blows up (for entirely unclear reasons)--not the only instance in this film where ostensibly destroyed or unavailable (e.g. classified) footage is simply spliced in with no explanation given. Unbelievable on many levels. Not to mention that the end result is entirely unimpressive and indecipherable anyways, leading one to believe that they actually did film this entire thing with a cheap 90's camcorder strapped to a helmet perched atop a drunken chimpanzee.
This film manages to hit all the familiar cliches while simultaneously eschewing any semblance of a meaningful/logical plot. The dialogue is repetitive and unconvincing, the characters are one-dimensional at best, and their portrayal substitutes screaming for actual emoting. This is one of those films that suffers from a pronounced overabundance of characters yelling "go, go, go"-type lines during action sequences. Which I suppose is to fill in for the fact that you won't be able to tell who is where or what is happening for like 90% of these sequences thanks to the shaky and blurry camera work--those prone to seasickness should not board this cinematic titanic.
All-around, one of the worst films I've seen in awhile. I would recommend it to folks looking for a film slightly better than a Tommy Wiseau production--but only ever so slightly. This film is a perfect candidate for MST3K-style riffing.
Review of The Phoenix Incident
